• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar

The Blue House Blog

believer | creating a home of peace, health, abundance and beauty | laughing a lot

  • Home
  • About
    • About
    • Truth
    • Contact Me
  • Recipes
    • Trim Healthy Mama
    • Nourishing Traditions
  • My Home
    • Remodeling
    • Before and After
  • The Fine Print
    • Disclosure
    • Privacy
    • Media
  • Shop

Through Thick and Thin.

Melissa Beene Ford/ Uncategorized

Tomorrow I get to see my best friend.

Its been twenty months since I’ve seen her… the longest span of time since 1993 when we first met in the ETBU cafeteria.

We met, hit it off, and in the fall of 1993 when she asked me to move into her three-person dorm room with her and another girl for the spring semester, I jumped at the chance.

We had a blast.

Mostly.

That was the semester of my first big breakup, the semester that we ate our weight in Little Debbie snack cakes (hello, Freshman Fifteen…), the semester we reveled in the freedom of going to WalMart or Whataburger in the middle of the night just because we could, the semester we lived on the edge by breaking the sacred Baptist University curfew designed to keep its young ladies pure and climbed in the dorm room window after 10:00pm one time too many, and the semester we shared clothes, Pretty Woman, Grease and City Slickers videos, and a Salt ‘n Pepa CD. I wanna shoop, baby…

AND of course 4Him and Truth CDs. We were good Baptist girls, after all.

We developed a fondness for Cookie Company cookies and Diet Cokes. And Sonic Happy Hour. (Did I mention Freshman Fifteen?)

We named our cars Bessie (hers) and Calvin (mine).

I went home with her to 9911 Ebb Street many a weekend, and felt right at home playing Rummikub and eating seafood with her family… until that day I dented her brother’s Camaro door… oops.

We were closer than friends… we were like sisters.

I still laugh at some of those memories…

But there were tears, too.

That first semester we lived together marked my first major breakup, from my junior college boyfriend (that was probably the first time I cursed… on the phone with him, and I wasn’t even embarrassed that my roommates heard it).

But then cursing quickly became funny, so we’d take turns saying “screw you!” just to shock each other. Because that was THE WORST, vilest, most shocking phrase any of us knew.

Then there was the time we both had a crush on the same guy. But neither of us ended up with him.

We both lost grandparents the same week one fall.

We had boyfriend drama and roommate drama and roommate’s boyfriend drama.

Like all sisters do, we had our share of, ahem, disagreements. We once went over a month not speaking to each other. And I remember EXACTLY why, but that’s not a story for the blog. I was wrong, and I’ll just leave it at that.

But we forgave each other and stayed friends.

We lived together until she graduated in 1995.

She moved home and got a job and traded Bessie for a new Honda Civic, and we talked on the phone almost every day.

Then I graduated a year later and moved home and got a job and traded Calvin for a used Toyota Camry, and we still talked on the phone almost every day.

We were in each other’s weddings.

At each other’s baby showers.

Had our first babies within months of each other. And I still have a ten-year-old picture of us pregnant together in a picture frame that says, “Through Thick and Thin.”

We’ve spent countless hours shopping, eating Mexican food, and shopping.

And eating Mexican food.

When my husband was diagnosed with encephalitis and we weren’t sure if he would live through it, she drove four hours to help me clean my house and get ready for him to come home from the ICU and for the throngs of visitors who would inevitably be arriving.

We’ve been there for each other.

More her than me. WAY more her than me.

I can’t imagine my life without her. She’s been a better friend to me than I’ve deserved, on more occasions than I can count, over the past seventeen years.

I’m grateful for her friendship more than I can put into words.

I haven’t seen her in twenty months.

And I’m dying for a Cookie Company Cookie and Diet Coke.

Recent Posts

  • Ask
  • Two Natural Ways to Cope with Grief
  • Covers Over
  • God vs Earthly Parents
  • For they are ever with me

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Marlager says

    May 27, 2011 at 12:30 pm

    Love it! Have a WONDERFUL time with L!!

    Reply
  2. Tamara says

    May 27, 2011 at 12:48 pm

    ETBU gave me sisters and soulmates, too. I have a piece of paper that hangs on my wall from the light on the hill, but nothing compares to the pieces of my heart strewn throughout the world because of that place. Enjoy your time with your friend!

    Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Primary Sidebar

Let’s Connect!

  • Email
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Pinterest
  • Twitter

About Me


Hey there... I'm Melissa! Texas girl. Mom to three + one goldendoodle. Believer. Old house fanatic. Creating a happy + healthy home with purpose is my passion. I'm so glad you're here!

Be sure to subscribe to emails so you don't miss a post!

Search for Something

ARCHIVES

I don’t know who’s big idea it was to strip 80 I don’t know who’s big idea it was to strip 80 years of paint off of this door down to the wood and start over… but that person has no business starting new projects. 😅 My neighbors must have thought this project would never end. *I* thought this project would never end. 😰 If you’re thinking of doing this yourself? Just don’t, ok? Throw the whole door away and buy a new one. 😂🤣 Just kidding.  Old house weirdos like me… we can’t just do things the easy way. Anyhoo… after some trial and error, @sherwinwilliams Celestial is what I landed on, and I have to say… I like it. Periwinkle-ish blue looks great with the yellow house and will look even better when the azaleas are in bloom. Was it all worth it? That’s not important right now. 🤭 Will I do this all again in two years? The magic eight ball says… without a doubt. 👏🏻 I’ve already picked the next color. #gluttonforpunishment #somefoolsneverlearn #oldhouselove #oldhomelove #makinghome #southernliving #gardenandgun #azaleadistrict #tylertx
Spring in the Azalea District makes the winters in Spring in the Azalea District makes the winters in an 80-year-old house completely worth it … what broken pipes, icy hardwood floors and drafty windows? 🤔 I forgot already. #comeonspring #azaleadistrict #tylertx
Happy Saturday ☀️ Happy Saturday ☀️
Salt Lake City is always magical ✨ Salt Lake City is always magical ✨
2022 had its highs and lows for sure, but scrollin 2022 had its highs and lows for sure, but scrolling through my pics from the last twelve months made me realize how blessed and content I am. Prosperity, love, and peace have been ours in abundance, in spite of the pain of losing my dad. The second picture is the last picture of him… the last time I saw him. 💔 But God has been good to my family this year and 2022 is ending far better than it began. 😄 #2022inreview #thanksforthememories
Who wants a Christmas tour of my home? 🙋🏼‍ Who wants a Christmas tour of my home? 🙋🏼‍♀️
⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
That’s it. That’s the tour. (Slide two). 
⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
It’s a new trend I’m starting: bare Christmas tree. Lowe’s tag still attached (so quirky and unexpected)! Christmas ornaments still in boxes. Coming soon to an Anthropologie window display near you. 
⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
Every year I think, “next year I’ll do better. Next year I’ll have it together.” And then, here we are on the SIXTH Christmas that we’ve been in this house, the sixth Christmas I’ve dragged our chaotic bunch of Christmas mess out of a chaotic garage I still haven’t unpacked from our move six years ago. 
⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
Maybe this year is the year I’ll organize it all and put it back neatly so that by Christmas number 7, it will be smooth sailing. People will flock to my social media to see how I’ve pulled everything off SO PERFECTLY. Next year will be my year. 
⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
Seems every year there’s less and less bandwidth for all these things. There’s more grief and stress, less money. More demands, less grace. 
⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
I put this sign on the wall in my office so I could keep it in front of my eyes: Love. Joy. Peace. And all that. I am SO unlike Jesus most days. So lacking in all of these character qualities. And that’s WITH waking up most mornings and spending my first 30 minutes with God Himself. 
⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
How lost would I be without that? Geez. I can’t fathom. I REQUIRE being transformed by renewing my mind every single morning, and even then, responding to people and life with love, joy, peace and patience doesn’t come naturally. 
⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
It’s the goal, though. 
⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
This weary world needs that from us Believers during this season, more than ever… even more than an Anthropologie-window-display worthy Christmas home tour. 
⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
I’m working on both.
Instagram post 18046618504353300 Instagram post 18046618504353300
Load More... Follow on Instagram

Copyright © 2023 · Ella Theme by Code + Coconut